Munns' Second Half Goal Leads Yale Past Columbia

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Alex Munns scored the only goal of the game late in the first half as Yale earned a hard-fought 1-0 Ivy League victory over Columbia at Baker Field. It was Munns' team-leading seventh goal of the season. The Bulldogs extended their unbeaten streak to three and are 3-1-1 in Ivy play.

"This is not an easy place to win," said Yale head coach Brian Tompkins. "Columbia is a good team and they gave us a lot to handle. I'm really happy with the determination and resiliency we showed."

The teams battled evenly for much of the first half, but Munns put the Bulldogs on the board with 4:05 left when he settled a long cross from Gage Hills and fired a left-footed shot past Lions goalkeeper Alex Maffeo.

Hills had two good chances to add an insurance goal in the second half. He hit the crossbar with 24:30 remaining, and about seven minutes later, saw a shot from in front go just wide.

Columbia's best opportunity came when Scott Strickland hit the crossbar from 15 yards out with 2:25 left.

Erik Geiger made six saves in goal for the Bulldogs, who have posted shutouts in three of their last four games.

"Erik was really on top of his game," Tompkins said. "He made some very key stops."

Maffeo finished with two saves for the Lions, who outshot the Bulldogs 15-14.